Initially, in case packers, there were both transversely and longitudinally extending partition and/or guide plates provided in the case pack assembly head and the spring fingers would be positioned on both of these longitudinally and transversely extending partition plates. However, for quite a few years, nearly all case packer heads have been improved so that many case packer heads in commercial use provide only partition or guide plates extending in one direction of the case packer head. Thus the drop fingers, which must engage the articles being dropped down into a case are so positioned that four fingers can still be provided to engage spaced circumferential areas of the processed articles to engage them for accurate control of the drop of the article to the case.
One prior type of a positioning means for guide or drop fingers in these packing head grids is a structure shown in Bruce Copping, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,385,027 while an early type of a finger mounting bracket is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,967.
Yet a further structure involving "corner mounting" means for guide fingers is the bottle packing grid of U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,095, wherein the individual drop fingers are secured by cap screws and retainer plates or bars to a mounting bracket secured to a guide plate positioned in the bottle packing assembly or grid.
In such prior structures, the drop fingers usually are secured in place by cap screws, rivets, bolts or other means and the repositioning or replacement of the fingers thus requires the worker to have some tools available for finger removal and replacement. Usually the finger replacement or repair is a somewhat time consuming job. Since these drop fingers may break or be damaged when in service, any repositioning or replacement of the guide fingers may necessitate shutting down the apparatus until the guide finger is properly replaced. Thus, it is undesirable to have these guide or drop fingers positioned in the case packing head in such a manner as to require any great amount of time for finger removal and replacement.